CBSE to unburden evaluators by reducing the number of answer sheets checked in a day

To ensure accuracy and reduce the burden, teachers will call correct only 80 answer sheets as against 100
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to reduce the number of copies to be evaluated in a day with the aim to make the entire process error-free. Following the new move, which is set to come into effect from 2020, an evaluator has to check 20 copies of the main subjects in a day instead of the current 25.
The initiative was first tested this year during the compartment exams of both class X and XII, which was held from July 2-10.From 2020, this rule will be implemented in the evaluation process of the main exams as well.
"The initiative aims at making the evaluation process smoother, transparent and error-free. By making evaluators check lesser copies in a day, we will reduce the pressure on them," says Sanyam Bhardwaj, controller of examinations, CBSE.
During the evaluation, one examiner or additional head examiner (AHE) manages four evaluators, who has to check 100 copies in a day. Each evaluator checks 25 answer copies of main subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, Economics, History, Biology, etc. Once the evaluation is done, the evaluators interchange the copies to ensure that no mistakes have been overlooked. With the numbers reducing to 20 copies in a day, from next year, one examiner or AHE has to supervise correct evaluation of 80 copies per day instead of the current 100.
Bhardwaj points out that this initiative can succeed only if all the affiliated schools allow their teachers to participate in the evaluation process. This will increase the number of teachers to ease the evaluation work.
"This year, we increased the number of evaluation centres by 40. We had 140 evaluation centres across India as opposed to 100 last year," says Bharadwaj, adding that as many as 1.3 lakh evaluators were appointed in the paper-checking process of CBSE 2019 exams.
"During the revaluation process this year, we noticed that in comparison to 2018, the magnitude of mistakes and the variation of marks were reduced as the evaluators were less burdened," adds Bhardwaj.
He explains that with the new initiative, CBSE aims to reach a stage wherein "during the verification and revaluation process, no change in the initially obtained marks will take place."